default header

Games

Polygon

Moderator: JC Denton

Polygon

Unread postby icycalm » 24 Aug 2012 18:46

http://www.rllmukforum.com/index.php?/t ... f-polygon/

Comrade wrote:So, Polygon, the new-ish game journalism site that's not officially launched yet and is still part of The Verge has decided to produce an Indie Game: The Movie - esque documentary series. About themselves.

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/8/2 ... er-trailer

Now, I have actually quite enjoyed Polygon's output so far, and it's quite promising, but this must be one of the worst ideas I've ever seen. THESE MEN WHO ARE MAKING A WEBSITE QUITE A LOT LIKE A LOT OF OTHER WEBSITES ARE MODERN DAY HEROES. What will happen if it fails? How will these people who work in an industry where websites fold every six weeks ever cope if it does?

GRIPPING



http://www.rllmukforum.com/index.php?/t ... try8786911

Robo_1 wrote:Yes, it all smacks of being incredibly conceited. The quick shot of Arthur Geis getting tattooed like he's some sort of hard ass lifestyle hero is utterly cringe inducing, as are all the shots and quotes of them agonising over how make or break it all is. They're all well known games journalists, who have been hauled together by an investor with substantial funds to write about video games, acting as if they're booting up for a first tour of duty makes them look farcical.

There's been some great tweets about it too, most notably from Garnett Lee:

Image

I think that sums up a lot of people's feelings on the matter. It really looks bad that they're setting themselves up as rock star game journalists before the site is even live, and the humorless self-aggrandising tone smacks of a lot of ego behind the scenes.


As for that "Garnett Lee" dude, who rags on the "Polygon" racketeers while "still loving them" (since it's impossible for anyone in the racket not to love everyone else, otherwise they get kicked out of the racket), this is how he has "been struggling to better portray the games, their art, their creators, and their passion":

By not writing a single review worth reading, let alone a general or theory article (as evidenced by the fact that no one has heard of him).
User avatar
icycalm
Hyperborean
 
Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands

Unread postby icycalm » 24 Aug 2012 19:05

Also:

http://www.rllmukforum.com/index.php?/t ... try8790538

Robo_1 wrote:
Harsin wrote:Oh God, the full trailer is even more gag inducing than the teaser,

http://mobile.theverge.com/gaming/2012/ ... al-trailer


Genuine lol at the original trailer actually being just a teaser trailer for the trailer, which in itself is just a trailer for a making of.


Clowns. Complete and utter clownishness everywhere. And I've already explained why it has come to this:

http://culture.vg/forum/topic?p=14085#p14085
User avatar
icycalm
Hyperborean
 
Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands

Unread postby icycalm » 22 Oct 2012 18:32

Following on from my positive comments in the graphics card thread, I've been keeping a closer eye on the site, and I came across this today:

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/10/ ... n-our-team

As we hurtle towards the launch of our homepage in the coming days (it's at http://www.polygon.com if you still haven't bookmarked it) we're looking for a few more staffers to join us here on the ground floor. What do we need? Well, so glad you asked (click on job title for description and application process):

Game critic: This is a rough job where you have to play video games and then tell people what you think of them. No, actually, just kidding, it's the best job. The only hitch is you have to be the best to do it. And, ideally, live in San Francisco or NYC.

Features writer: Love people? Love games? We want you to tell their stories. If you haven't seen the features we've done already, we invite you to do so. If that's the kind of work you want to be doing, we'd love to have you.

Senior reporter (Sydney): We need someone to cover Australia's gaming scene full time and the rest of the world while we're asleep. If you're capable of keeping tabs on an entire continent/planet on your own, we need you.

Video Director and Editor NYC and San Francisco: We've been making video we're really proud of as we head towards launch, but now we want more. Specifically: We want you to make more for us.

Product Manager: This person will work behind the scenes to make Polygon the best it can be. Working with editorial, advertising and all of Vox's other teams, the Product Manager is the hand on the rudder that keeps us on course.

Support Manager: If the Product Manager is the ship's captain, the Support Manager is our scrappy engineer. They'll make sure the bugs get squashed, ensure that new features are implemented properly and work to help our passengers have the smoothest ride possible. By passengers, we mean readers. We think. We've sort of lost the metaphor.

If you're interested, just click on a position to read more about it and apply. If you're not a great fit for any of the above, great news!: Vox Media is looking to fill a bunch of positions, as you can see on our job board. If you have any questions, please drop a line to feedback at polygon dot com, otherwise, get cracking on those applications, we can't wait to have you on board.


In response to which I sent them this:

I wrote:Hello Mr. McElroy.

I've been checking your site since I came across that ludicrous teaser trailer of yours a couple of months ago, and though I started out with an extremely hostile attitude, I have come around since then, partly because of the slightly higher quality of your editorial compared to regular journlolism (I especially enjoyed the GTX 680 vs HD 7970 feature, and it was that which softened my attitude and made me pay more attention to your site), and partly, I have to say, because of your superior page layout, a very important aspect of any kind of publication, which however seems to be utterly neglected by everyone else on the internet today.

So, to cut to the chase, I want to write game reviews for you, and why not, even some articles. I am not, however, going to be sending you an application form. In the extremely unlikely case that you haven't heard of me (and I note that my RPG essay has been linked twice so far on your site...), you can start by reading the following article, and then clicking on all the links on the sidebar -- they are the best game-related essays you're ever going to read:

http://insomnia.ac/commentary/gameplay/

As for review samples, here are a few:

http://insomnia.ac/reviews/xbox/gunvalkyrie/
http://insomnia.ac/reviews/xbox360/grandtheftautoiv/
http://insomnia.ac/reviews/custom/arcanaheart/
http://insomnia.ac/reviews/playstationp ... petactics/

And again, each of these reviews is the best review on the game in question on the internet today, and they will never be surpassed.

So, what I am offering you is the chance to feature the writings of a real critic on your site, someone whose contributions will have actual lasting value and not be instantly forgotten the moment they have fallen off the frontpage -- as will those of everyone else on your staff, no matter how much editorial freedom you might give them, or how hard they might try. Because at the end of the day the only opinions that last (in videogame criticism as in every other field) are those of experts (experts in actual videogame genres, not in securing interviews and world "exclusives"), and I am afraid to say you don't have any of those on staff yet, nor are you likely to find any among those who are currently sending you applications. My only conditions are those that any real critic would impose: I only review what I want to review, and I'll have no contact whatsoever with game developers or publishers or PR staff or advertising people of any kind. In return, I'll give you the best reviews on the internet by far, and you'll be able to say you have Alex Kierkegaard on staff because that's how seriously you take this wonderful art of ours.

So, consider this for a while and let me know what you think. If you go ahead with it you'll get a lot of flak, but the way I see it "a lot of flak" is exactly what you want. After all, if Polygon doesn't end up getting a lot of flak it will clearly mean that, despite all your brave rhetoric, its content is homogeneous with that of all the other sites, and the project will have failed. I genuinely believe that I am offering you the only chance to avoid this.


The chances of it working are miniscule, and what will happen instead is precisely what I predicted in the last paragraph, but I figured it was worth 10 minutes of my time to give it a shot. In the extremely unlikely chance that they actually accept my offer I am going to become the only person on the site anyone pays attention to, to the point where they'll have to make me chief editor eventually, at which point I'll fire everyone and fill their places with people from this forum. Kind of what I almost did with IC back in the day. Essentially, Insomnia will morph into Polygon, only with proper financial backing and a payroll. Let's see how that goes then.
User avatar
icycalm
Hyperborean
 
Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands

Unread postby icycalm » 02 Nov 2012 01:20

Videogame journalists are branching out to philosophy:

http://www.polygon.com/forums/polynauts ... can-be-bad

words cannot express
User avatar
icycalm
Hyperborean
 
Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands

Unread postby icycalm » 20 Oct 2018 06:19

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/polygon- ... -253516566

Pot Meet Kettle wrote:Polygon:
We need strictly curated Steam again, even more than before, to keep that problematic filth and problematic developers out. Bring back Greenlight.
Here's some developer interviews complaining about how their games can't be discovered through the new releases tab (that has dozens of games per day) and that's bad for poor developers who have absolutely no other discoverability channels than the equivalent of a Nintendo Direct live chat thread.
Steam should fix it and impose draconian curation that would put launch Switch window Nintendo and GOG to shame. By undoing their recent policy changes, of course.

Polygon, Too:
We need our friend's walking simulator scams that end in under 45 minutes but are all about political preaching, and bug fests, to sell.
Here's some developer interviews complaining how Steam's refund policy (2 hours window) is KILLING the adventure and point-and-click genre, those same poor developers who go full psychotic meltdowns on twitter.
Steam should cancel the refund policy, sucker users should not effectively PIRATE the enriching visual experience by playing through it all in under two hours. (also please cancel Leisure Suit Larry and shitty VNs, but not otome and daddy simulator pls)

Also Polygon:
We need our shitty games by our clique's friends to sell, and are doing our best to give them all the inflated scores they need, but nobody is actually taking our seal of approval seriously (more the counter-seal of approval) and instead they read steam reviews. FILTHY USER reviews, in the security of their steam account away from overmoderated comment sections talking openly about how this game has bugs and glitches and the "positive political talk" in it doesn't save it as a game.
Here's some developer interviews about how bad user reviews are harming poor developers because 70% is unrealistic, and I can't hire a competent PR manager who's not a power-tripping asshole more on twitter discussing day-to-day news feeds than doing his job, so he answers those comments and track down prices overseas.
Steam should fix it and make the positive reviews mark already abused by big corporations even easier for smaller ones to abuse and inflate a game with probable major flaws.

Ah Polygon, always so transparent and predictable.
User avatar
icycalm
Hyperborean
 
Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands



Return to Games